2008 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

Infobox NCAA Ice Hockey Conference Tournament
Year=2008
Conference=WCHA
Gender=Men's


ImageSize=200px
Caption=2008 WCHA Final Five logo
Teams=10
FinalArena=Xcel Energy Center
FinalCity=St. Paul, MN
Champions=Denver
TitleCount=15th
Coach=George Gwozdecky
CoachCount=4th
MVP=Alex Kangas
MVPTeam=Minnesota
Attendance=

The 2008 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was played between March 14 and March 22, 2008, at five conference arenas and the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, Denver was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Format

The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. All ten conference teams participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded No. 1 through No. 10 according to conference standing, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical number of points accumulated.cite web|url=http://wcha.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/031008aac.html|title=First Round WCHA Playoffs Set for March 14-16; Colorado College Reigns as 2007-08 WCHA Champion|date=2008-03-10|accessdate=2008-03-22|work=WCHA] The top five seeded teams each earned home ice and hosted one of the lower seeded teams.

The winners of the first round series advanced to the Xcel Energy Center for the WCHA Final Five, the collective name for the quarterfinal, semifinal, and championship rounds. The Final Five uses a single-elimination format. Teams were re-seeded No. 1 through No. 5 according to the final regular season conference standings, with the top three teams automatically advancing to the semifinals.

Conference Standings

"Note: PTS = Points; GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against"

Tiebreakers

*Minnesota State over St. Cloud State: The Mavericks swept the regular season series against the Huskies.cite web|url=http://wcha.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/030307aaa.html|title=Minnesota Earns Back-to-Back WCHA Championships as Golden Gophers Down MTU|date=2007-03-07|accessdate=2008-03-22|work=WCHA] [cite web|url=http://www.uscho.com/schedules/team.php/minnesota-state-mavericks/mens-college-hockey/season,20072008/team,mnst/gender,m.html |title=Minnesota State Mavericks: 2007-2008 Men's Hockey Schedule/Results |accessdate=2008-03-22|work=USCHO]

Brackets

First Round

2TeamBracket-Tennis3
RD1=March 14-16, 2008
group1=World Arena (Colorado Springs, CO)
RD1-seed1=1
RD1-team1=Colorado College
RD1-score1-1=4
RD1-score1-2=3*
RD1-score1-3=
RD1-seed2=10
RD1-team2=Alaska Anchorage
RD1-score2-1=1
RD1-score2-2=2
RD1-score2-3=

2TeamBracket-Tennis3
RD1=
group1=Alltel Center (Mankato, MN)
RD1-seed1=4
RD1-team1=Minnesota State
RD1-score1-1=1**
RD1-score1-2=1
RD1-score1-3=2
RD1-seed2=7
RD1-team2=Minnesota
RD1-score2-1=0
RD1-score2-2=2*
RD1-score2-3=3**

2TeamBracket-Tennis3
RD1=
group1=National Hockey Center (St. Cloud, MN)
RD1-seed1=5
RD1-team1=St. Cloud State
RD1-score1-1=3
RD1-score1-2=4*
RD1-score1-3=
RD1-seed2=6
RD1-team2=Wisconsin
RD1-score2-1=0
RD1-score2-2=3
RD1-score2-3=

2TeamBracket-Tennis3
RD1=
group1=Magness Arena (Denver, CO)
RD1-seed1=3
RD1-team1=Denver
RD1-score1-1=6
RD1-score1-2=1
RD1-score1-3=
RD1-seed2=8
RD1-team2=Minnesota Duluth
RD1-score2-1=3
RD1-score2-2=0
RD1-score2-3=

2TeamBracket-Tennis3
RD1=
group1=Ralph Engelstad Arena (Grand Forks, ND)
RD1-seed1= 2
RD1-team1=North Dakota
RD1-score1-1=4
RD1-score1-2=2
RD1-score1-3=2
RD1-seed2= 9
RD1-team2=Michigan Tech
RD1-score2-1=0
RD1-score2-2=3*
RD1-score2-3=1

Final Five

3RoundBracket-Byes-ThirdPlace
RD1=QuarterfinalMarch 20, 2008
RD2=SemifinalsMarch 21, 2008
RD3=ChampionshipMarch 22, 2008
RD1-seed1=
RD1-team1=
RD1-score1=
RD1-seed2=
RD1-team2=
RD1-score2=
RD1-seed3=4
RD1-team3=St. Cloud State
RD1-score3=2
RD1-seed4=5
RD1-team4=Minnesota
RD1-score4=3
RD1-seed5=
RD1-team5=
RD1-score5=
RD1-seed6=
RD1-team6=
RD1-score6=
RD1-seed7=
RD1-team7=
RD1-score7=
RD1-seed8=
RD1-team8=
RD1-score8=
RD2-seed1=1
RD2-team1=Colorado College
RD2-score1=1
RD2-seed2=5
RD2-team2=Minnesota
RD2-score2=2*
RD2-seed3=3
RD2-team3=Denver
RD2-score3=3
RD2-seed4=2
RD2-team4=North Dakota
RD2-score4=1
RD3-seed1=5
RD3-team1=Minnesota
RD3-score1=1
RD3-seed2=3
RD3-team2=Denver
RD3-score2=2
RD3-seed3=1
RD3-team3=Colorado College
RD3-score3=2
RD3-seed4=2
RD3-team4=North Dakota
RD3-score4=4

* Overtime
** Double overtime

Awards

All-Tournament Team

*G: Peter Mannino, Denver
*D: Chris Butlar, Denver
*D: Taylor Chorney, North Dakota
*F: Mike Hoeffel, Minnesota
*F: Tom May, Denver
*F: T.J. Oshie, North Dakota

Most Valuable Player

*G: Alex Kangas, Minnesota

ee also

*Western Collegiate Hockey Association men's champions

References

*cite web|url=http://insidecollegehockey.com/6History/wcha_08.htm|title=2008 WCHA Tournament|accessdate=2008-03-22|work=Inside College Hockey

External links

* [http://wcha.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/08-mens-final-five.html Official website]